UMECUnited Mining Exploration Commission: A group of friends playing JumpGate-- "a MMORPG that launched smoothly, breaks from fantasy character setting, emphasizes PvP, and is the first persistent world space simulator that nobody talks about." ~Scorch

OMFG!!! That was everything I'd hoped it would be. It's... well, Lucas LISTENED apparently to the endless bitching about Ep.1... and even JarJar (they had to have him, *sigh*) was reduced to 3 or so cameos and that's it.

okay, i love it when Lucas does action flicks with wisecracking rogues.

I loved this movie because of that, unfortunately there was alot of very immature B-grade level crap thrown in. (the storytelling didn't match the heights of the roleplaying action)

The action was good. the plot was like the titanic ("everyone knows what happens, so why bother with why?" mentality)

*SPOILER WARNING!*
=====================

Okay, first off you've got padme's bodyguard/decoy getting wasted by that bomb and the last words spoken aren't of comfort by the queen, it's some blithering comment about "failure" from the decoy...Immediately afterwards you've got Padme leaving JarJar binks to be the fall guy cum-senator. (yeah, uh huh)...Next you get a BIIIIIIG hint of how bad Lucas fumbles the romance scenes (ohhh...i sense emotional decision point - SCENE SWITCH IMMINENT!)...After that tepid hint of "The Love Story" to come *shudder* we get the protagonists and antagonists doing some cloak and dagger stuff that's so naive and cute you'd think ewoks could do a better job of running the universe.

Quote:

"omg! i'm the leader of the opposition! quick, off to Naboo after some fool so incompetent as to drop bugs as a calling card instead of a FREAKIN BOMB to kill me! Never mind the debate over the army! JarJar! You be the fallguy, i don't wanna take the heat for this!"
~Amidala

And that first love scene with the backless dress. uhhhh huh. k...I don't care if she's in love, "annie" should have gotten the back of her hand for that grope. (i mean, sure. it's gonna happen. BUT, GODS! THAT'S THE ONLY THING HE DOES! no dialogue. no nothing. just this leacherous leer and a grope.)

And then they kiss?! And then she calls it quits?!?! AND THEN THERE'S A SCENE CHANGE?!?!

yeah, that's it...meet some chick at a bar you once hung out at school with...leer at her, grope her back and then she kisses you and says "No"

And then there's a shuffling of scenes until she finally relents? She kept saying "No" but it was really a "YES YES YES!"???

And why does she finally say yes? cause she thought she was gonna die...SWEET!!! Forget "No means No", just threaten the slut with death and she'll relent!

Omg, i must repeat i loved the action scenes. he really really outdid himself, lucas did.

OT: The current state of Star Wars
Hey, Orionstorm got me on the topic of Lucas and Star Wars. I guess I'm curious as to what people here thought about the last 2 SW's? I was interested in having an open civil debate about this.

Personally, I think he's cheapened a great epic that had been untouchable until he came along and bred it with media hype, pop-culture morality, an obsessive and damaging addiction to implementing all things technological even if it adds nothing to the film/story, and the lack of present creativity that I believe Lucas used up after making the first 3 (which I believe were great). Personally, I could care less if Ep3 was made because it will probably leave the same bad taste that Ep1&2 left.

BlkPrince wrote:

I can sum up everything about Ep1 with one name; Jar Jar Binks. Total and complete cute kiddy sell out for mass marketing. And Ep2? With the money he makes, you'd think Lucas could hire a decent screenwriter who didn't through in cliches and horrible bits of dialgue "I wish I could wish all of this away." The first thing he needs to do is fire Hayden Christensen, the boy can't act, and everything he does on screen feels forced. Give Hayden 10 years of growing up, and he might be an ok actor, otherwise he needs to look for a new line of employment. Natalie Portman is absolutely brilliant, she did an ok job in Ep1, and a great job in Ep2, considering what she had to work with. Lucas is targeting these movies for the 11-15 year old male group, and they love it. Unfortunately all of us who grew up dreaming about these first episodes are left hanging in the wind.

Jonboy wrote:

It was like watching someone doing connect the dots. It was all very forced (bad pun unintentional)

GrimFalcon wrote:

I longed to see the prequels as much as the next guy but what they turned into and how the stories were told, cast and portrayed dissapointed me. All in all, Lucas I believe has lost his edge. He YEARNS to be the first to be all digital and that it will somehow make his films legendary, all the while forgetting that great films like Citizen Kane and the such required no such devices. Camera angle, mood, setting, lighting, dramatic pauses, climax, CHARACTER DEPTH!!!!.... he has thrown to the wind in the favor of simulated actors that portray no real emotion or depth. His actors almost begin to blend with the AI he uses for the extras. The nice thing about the first episodes (4-6) was that while the ewoks were costumes and that Yoda was a puppet...you believed they were real because the actors could play off something that was actually there! Puppet or not...it gave them interaction and as talented as any actor is, acting to a tennis ball depicting eye-focus when dialogue and real emotion is involved ends up lacking!

The fact they are prequels, that our age has changed, that times have changed are irrelevant. The point is, EP1 and 2 showed large amounts of poor filmmaking, writing and "movie-mechanics". I would delightfully go into each one of them right now if I wasn't at work.

Alphabet wrote:

EP1 - major suxxors for a movie. No bright points in it at all. Anikan makes C3P0, R2 was a repair robot on the queens ship, gimme a break! What cheese. Next we'll see that Han and Chewy had the same mother or something. What a waste.
EP2 - The only part of the movie that didnt suck was Jango and Boba Fetts story, everything else blew dog. The new Anikan sux; lets see, he is now a confused, murdering, little cry baby and the strong queen Amadala falls in love with him... yeah, whatever.
EP3 - Who knows, but considering how unoriginal EP6, EP1 and EP2 were, we should not be surprised if it blows chunks.
EP4 - Star Wars, incredible story, great movie. The special effects were top notch for its day and didnt get in the way of the characters.
EP5 - I think one of the best sequels ever made. Very dark and introduction of Yoda! Done very well.
EP6 - The beginning of the end of original story work. What the hell were the ewoks all about anyway? EP4 and EP5 were original stories that had stuff for everyone, this EP was more meant for little kids. Should've known from this what the prequils would be like.
Anyway, thats my review of all the Star Wars movies up till now.

GM_Arch0n wrote:

Battlestar Galactica, now that was good sci-fi. Dun-tada-dun-dun-dun-dun-dunna-dun-dun-dun-dunna-dun-dun-dun-dun

I am starting to think that George Lucas just got plain lucky with Ep IV and had the good sense to hand over the reigns to someone capable for Empire and even to a degree with ROTJ which, while cutesy, doesn't manange to shatter the illusion of Star Wars to the same degree the new Trilogy is shaping up to do quite nicely.

EPI as we all know was a travesty, but to be fair to Lucas, we knew it was coming. Hands up anyone who honestly thought that the Special editions of the original films actually added more than they took away from the films (see the Jabba scene that was best left on the cutting room floor or at least without sticking the most blatant bit of CGI since Toy Story in as a character).

Ok, so Lucas' reasoning behind EPI is that it is a Kids film, as were all the others. Ok I have no problem with that up to a point, but it still doesn't alter the fact that 4,5 and even 6 were basically good films, the special effects in the original versions have stood the test of time, something I fear cannot be said for either EpI or to a degree EPII.

So to Episode II, a great return to form? My Arse is it, though I did wonder whether I had some special edition playing from the DvD for people with miniscule attention spans, everytime a scene with anything approaching plot developement or meaningful character interaction cropped up it was gone in a Lucas wipe before anything more than superficial dialogue or explanation could be given. The start of Anankins fall from grace (sand people massacre) or his relationship with Amidala are skimped over in an unforgiveable manner and as a result Anakin comes over as just another snotty teenager who could use a damn good hiding.

And the plot holes just seem to get bigger and bigger, especially where the droids are concerned. Ok so we can explain their incomprehension of past events away with a handy memory wipe, but I am sure I dont recall Alec Guiness'es Obi-Wan proclaiming on Tatooine "R2D2, well bugger me, haven't see you since we went gallivanting round the galaxy losing Anankin to the dark side" or Darth Vader musing "C3PO? aren't you the gay english robot I built when I was a nipper?".

*sigh* I am going to stop now, dig up my original version of Empire Strikes Back and remind myself what it was like to watch a Star Wars film without risking a fall to the dark side. "I sense much anger in you....".